[Ip-health] Reuters: U.S. trade deals raising drug prices abroad

[Rohit Malpani]

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Reuters



U.S. trade deals raising drug prices abroad: Oxfam Tue Apr 3, 2007
7:31PM EDT



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Strong intellectual property protections in U.S.

free trade deals have hurt developing countries, pushing up drug prices
in Jordan by 20 percent, an aid advocacy group said in a report released
on Tuesday.



Beefed-up property rights for drug makers, which have been built into
U.S. free trade deals like the one with Jordan, "will make it harder and
harder to sustain public health systems," said Rohit Malpani, a trade
analyst with the advocacy group Oxfam in Washington.



U.S. trade officials disputed the report's findings, saying the trade
agreements fairly balanced intellectual property protections and health
care needs.



The Oxfam report found that drug prices in Jordan have increased by 20
percent since 2001, when the bilateral deal with the United States was
implemented, and are up to six times higher than comparable drug prices
in Egypt.



Oxfam said a big driver of higher drug prices is a rule that guards, for
a time, against sharing of clinical trial information that can be used
to make generic drugs.



"In developing countries ... public health systems are very fragile and
only a small percentage of the population has health insurance," so
higher drug prices can have serious health consequences, Malpani said.



But a U.S. trade official, who requested anonymity, said: "We strongly
disagree with Oxfam's contention that intellectual property protection
is at odds with an effective response to global health crises.



"We believe that our (trade agreements) represent an appropriate means
of advancing high standards of IP protection, while safeguarding the
ability of trading partners to respond to legitimate public health
needs," the official added.



Oxfam wants to see trade deals with Peru, Colombia, Panama and South
Korea, which still need congressional approval, reworked to soften
intellectual property rules.



Malpani believes support is gathering among some Democratic lawmakers
for loosening those rules for developing countries.



Democrats on the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee,
which oversees trade, recently released their own vision for trade
including a goal to "reestablish a fair balance" in setting IP rules for
medicine with developing countries.



Last month, a group of lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. Trade
Representative Susan Schwab saying that trade deals "appear to
undermine" a pledge from all World Trade Organization members to give
poorer countries flexibility in protecting public health.



Some Democrats are also calling for stronger protection for workers and
the environment to be woven into pending deals.



http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN0327077920070403?